Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

A fine, cold rain fell on the river city on a winter night.

Xie Wang picked up the long-handled black umbrella in the entryway and opened the door for Su Qinghe.

The two of them did not take a car.

It takes about forty minutes to walk from the Yunding Piano Room to the cemetery in the south of the city.

Xie Wang said he wanted to take a walk.

Su Qinghe did not object.

The raindrops fell obliquely onto the umbrella, making a soft rustling sound.

Xie Wang held up the umbrella, but the umbrella unconsciously tilted most of its surface towards Su Qinghe, and his left shoulder was already soaked by the rain.

Su Qinghe glanced at him sideways, reached out and pressed the umbrella handle, pushing it towards him.

"Don't catch a cold, you have to go to the company tomorrow."

"It's okay, I'm thick-skinned."

Xie Wang took her hand with his other hand, their interlocked fingers conveying each other's warmth.

At this time of day, the streets in the south of the city are almost deserted, with only a few dim lights still lit on the shop signs along the street.

The rain is getting heavier.

The fine rain turned into a dense curtain of water, and the sound of it hitting the umbrella changed from a light tapping to a rapid pounding.

The two quickened their pace and turned into the outer perimeter of Yulanshan Cemetery along a path shaded by plane trees.

The main gate of the cemetery is locked at night, but there is an inconspicuous small iron gate on the side that is always ajar.

When Xie Wang pushed open the iron gate, the rusted hinges emitted a sharp groan that sounded particularly jarring in the quiet, rainy night.

There were no streetlights in the cemetery; only a dim wall lamp at the entrance barely illuminated the stone path a few meters away.

Rainwater streamed down the low stone tablets on both sides, washing the names and birth and death dates engraved on the tablets until they shone.

The two walked deeper into the stone path, Xie Wang's pace slowing down.

He recognized the road.

For twelve years, he has walked this road countless times in his dreams.

At the end of the road stands an old locust tree, and beneath it is a small black granite tombstone with four characters engraved on its surface.

The Tomb of Xie Wan.

Xie Wang stopped twenty meters away from the tombstone.

Because he saw someone.

A thin figure stood in front of the tombstone.

The man was wearing an old black jacket and holding a black umbrella with a slightly cracked fabric. He stood quietly in the rain.

His back was slightly hunched, and his shoulders were unusually thin due to years of heavy drinking.

But he stood very straight, as if he were using the last of his strength to maintain a dignified posture.

Xie Wang recognized the figure from behind at a glance.

Xie Zhengyang.

Su Qinghe gently squeezed Xie Wang's fingers without saying a word.

Xie Wang remained silent, then slowly led Su Qinghe over.

The sound of footsteps on the wet stone slabs startled Xie Zhengyang. He turned his head and saw two people walking side by side.

The three of them stood quietly in front of the tombstone.

The rain pounded on the two black umbrellas, producing dull thuds of different frequencies, as if playing a silent elegy for this reunion that was twelve years overdue.

No one spoke first.

Xie Wang looked at his mother's name on the tombstone; the two gentle characters gleamed with a cold light under the rain.

Su Qinghe glanced at Xie Wang, then at the silent Xie Zhengyang.

She gently loosened her clasped fingers from Xie Wang's and took a step forward.

She took out a bunch of white daisies tied with a black ribbon from inside her coat; she had picked them from the flower stand on the balcony of room 1601 before leaving.

She bent down and gently placed the bouquet of white flowers in front of the tombstone.

"Auntie, I've come to see you." Su Qinghe's voice sounded particularly clear in the rain.

She straightened up, and raindrops dripped down the ribs of the umbrella onto her shoulders.

"Xie Wang really works hard."

"He ranked fourth in the city's science exam, he beat the world champion, he started his own company, and he personally brought the person who harmed you to justice."

"He did everything he promised you."

Fine raindrops clung to Su Qinghe's eyelashes. She turned her head slightly to glance at Xie Wang, who remained silent behind her, her voice soft yet resolute.

"Auntie, I am Su Qinghe, I will take good care of him."

Xie Wang stood behind Su Qinghe, gritting his teeth, unable to hear anything but the sound of rain.

He stepped forward, squatted down, and gently brushed away a few fallen leaves clinging to the surface of the monument with his palm.

His fingertips traced every etched mark of his mother's name, and the cool touch made his nose sting.

The surface of the monument was very clean, there was no dust in the cracks of the stone, and the weeds around the base had also been pulled out cleanly.

This is not a forgotten grave.

Someone has been taking care of it all along.

Xie Wang turned his head and glanced at Xie Zhengyang, who was standing two steps away in silence.

The old drunkard had his head down, the tattered umbrella obscuring most of his face, revealing only a rough, weathered chin eroded by time and alcohol. Rain and tears mingled and silently streamed down his deep nasolabial folds.

Xie Wang turned his gaze back to the tombstone.

"mom."

His voice was very soft, as if he were afraid of waking the person sleeping peacefully beneath the monument.

"This is Su Qinghe, my girlfriend."

He paused, his lips twitched slightly, forming a bitter smile.

"She's much better than me. She always gets the highest score in the city in every exam, and she's a great cook. The only problem is that she has a bad temper and makes me copy words as punishment all the time."

Su Qinghe stood behind him, her eyes red-rimmed, but she didn't interrupt him.

"Mom, thanks to everyone's hard work, I finally did it."

Xie Wang's voice began to tremble.

"Gu Tianlong was arrested tonight on suspicion of intentional homicide. He'll never get out of here again."

"The person who hit you has also been arrested, and all the evidence has been obtained, including video and audio recordings."

He pulled a white rose from his pocket, its edges damp from the rain. He had bought it on a whim when he passed by a flower shop; it was a lone, solitary rose.

He carefully placed the flower next to Su Qinghe's daisies in front of the monument.

Don't worry.

The rain suddenly intensified, with dense raindrops pounding on the stone pavement and splashing up a white mist. Water from three black umbrellas converged into thin streams that trickled down to the ground.

Xie Zhengyang remained standing two steps away, without uttering a single word.

But the hand holding the umbrella handle was trembling violently.

Finally, a hoarse, breathy sound escaped from his alcohol-damaged throat.

"Son, I'm so sorry for you and your mother."

His voice was so broken it was unrecognizable; every word sounded as if it had been sanded through before being uttered.

"I was drinking at home the night your mother passed away, and I didn't even make it to see her off on her final journey."

"In these twelve years, it's not that I didn't want to avenge her, it's that I was useless. I was terrified by Gu Tianlong, and I had no way to deal with myself, so I could only drink."

Xie Zhengyang's shoulders trembled violently in the rain, and his thin, bony frame looked as if it could be blown away by the wind at any moment.

"I come here every month to clean her tombstone, pull weeds, and talk to her."

"She loves cleanliness; we can't let her living space be dirty."

Hearing these words, Xie Wang stood up and remained silent for a long time with his back to Xie Zhengyang.

The sound of rain filled all the empty spaces.

"Xie Zhengyang," Xie Wang said, his voice as flat as if he were reading a notice.

"Stop crying here. Seeing you like this will only make Mom more upset."

Xie Zhengyang paused slightly in his sobs.

"You don't need to apologize to me. The person you're sorry to is lying down there. Tell her."

Xie Wang took a deep breath of the damp, cold winter night air and turned to look at his father.

The man stood in the rain, looking as wretched as a stray dog ​​that had been wandering in a storm for too long. Bloodshot eyes and tears mingled together, making him look paler than a tombstone.

Xie Wang's Adam's apple bobbed.

He is, after all, his biological father.

The only person in the world who shares the same blood as him.

"But then again..."

Xie Wang's tone changed, from calm to a cold, warning tone.

"From now on, you are not allowed to touch the gambling table again, not even once."

"You've given up drinking too. If you really can't, then drink less. If I see you getting so drunk that you're hitting people, I'll teach you a lesson every time."

Xie Zhengyang opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't say anything.

Xie Wang looked at him and paused for a moment.

"Go to work."

Xie Zhengyang raised his head, a hint of panic showing in his cloudy eyes.

"My company is called Xinghuo Network, located on the 12th floor of Yinhe Science and Technology Park in the High-tech Zone."

Xie Wang's voice remained that of a statement devoid of any superfluous emotion.

Upon hearing this, Xie Zhengyang's lips began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Tomorrow, go and report to a guy named Zhou Zixu. Tell him I sent you there. Start with the basics: keep your workstation clean, be on time for get off work. The salary isn't high, but it'll be enough to support yourself."

As Xie Wang finished speaking, he took a step forward, shortening the distance between himself and Xie Zhengyang to within an arm's length.

His eyes were fixed on the man who was half a head shorter than him, his pupils reflecting the blurry lights behind the rain curtain.

"But let me make this clear, Xie Zhengyang."

His voice was very low, so low that it was mostly drowned out by the sound of the rain, and only the person in front of him could hear it.

"If you ever gamble or get drunk and assault someone again, I will not give you another chance."

"I'll call the police and have you locked up. You've probably heard that I know the people at the police station very well, and they can keep you inside as long as they want."

"Did you understand?"

Xie Zhengyang nodded vigorously, his lips trembling so much that he couldn't utter a complete sentence; only two lines of tears streamed down his weathered face.

"Understood."

"Son, I understand."